Festival Forecast In The Heart Of Galloway

From Sid Ambrose Wigtownshire Area Arts Convenor

Nostalgic acts booked for several of the regions festivals

Music lovers and festival fans may have noticed a strong nostalgic vibe emanating from some of our region’s major events being held in deepest grooviest Galloway this summer.
Lulu, Status Quo, Grandmaster Flash, Squeeze, the Waterboys and Big Country are like a who’s who of bygone rock royalty. In search of meaning l read some tea leaves and consulted with the bones to find out why, it appears that a frothy cloud of nostalgia has been snagged on the lofty peak of the Merrick and looks to be settled in place for our northern summer. However fans of contemporary and new music need not be alarmed as strong westerlies have blown in a smattering of current acts such as Example, Tom Odell and The Cat Empire.

This retro and newbie mash up may have been influenced by the Gulf Stream which flows northward past our shores, but it is more likely that the population demographic of ageing stalwarts and bright young things have championed for a series of line up’s that reflect the eclectic musical tastes of our collective shires and dales. Wickerman, Eden and now Palmerston Park may have secured some of the music industry heavy artillery but let’s not forget the likes of Knockengorroch who have booked timeless acts such as Shooglenifty and the Peatbog Faeries for their World Ceilidh in May. Electric Fields who champion new Scottish music have just released their line-up of new pretenders and our "way out west" event Park Fest in Stranraer will probably combine a weekend of Young Guns and veteran performers in late August. Youth Beatz are building a national reputation amongst a tween audience whilst Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival continue their 30-year run of bringing quality and diversity to pocket sized venues all along the A75 corridor.

So what’s the long range forecast for the regions festivals and events l hear you ask. Well barring external factors such as those that affect the economy and travel l feel that future of our festival industry is so bright we are probably going to need shades, the combination of niche market events, family friendly gatherings and rock offerings means that we must be several isobars above other comparable regions when it comes to outdoor live music. In my experience live performance can never be matched by pub jukeboxes or in- car stereos and luckily for us you can hardly swing a selfie stick in Galloway without hitting a festival.

Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

From Forest Art Works - Forestry Commission England

Now open for entries, the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best in environmental photography and film. The competition offers a top prize of £5,000 and is free to enter

Launched in 2007 by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), and sponsored by Atkins, one of the worlds leading design, engineering and project management consultancies, the competition honours amateurs and professionals of all ages. It provides an opportunity for photographers to share images of environmental and social issues with international audiences, and to enhance our understanding of the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change and social inequality.

Man in the face of nature VII, Bogumil Kruzel

The prizes for the 2015 competition are:
Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year - £5000
Atkins CIWEM Young Environmental Photographer of the Year (25 years or under) - £1000
Atkins CIWEM Environmental Film of the Year - £1000
Atkins Cityscape Prize - £1000
Forestry Commission England Exhibition Award - One photographer will be invited to exhibit a solo exhibition at one of England’s public forests.

Entries will be judged from the open submission by the distinguished panel of judges:
Dr David Haley - Senior Research Fellow, Director - Ecology In Practice, Route Leader MA Art as Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University
Brigitte Lardinois - Deputy Director of the Photography and the Archive Research Centre at University of the Arts London
Tim Parkin - Landscape photographer and Editor of On Landscape
Hayley Skipper - Curator of Arts Development, Forestry Commission England
Stephen Vaughan - Photographer and Senior Lecturer, Bath Spa University and Plymouth University

Rainwater collection, Prasanta Biswas

How To Enter:

Open to all photographers, professional and amateur alike, the competition encourages entries that are contemporary, creative, resonant, original and beautiful. Entry is free and photographers may submit up to 10 works.
Deadline for entries: 7 April 2015, by 5pm GMT

For further information and to apply: www.epoty.org

Parking Space in Dumfries

From the stove network

Anyone spotted these about Dumfries town centre the past few days? Any ideas?

Curious to find out more about #ParkingSpace? Join our events page here to stay up to date with information as it is released! 

Dumfries and Galloway’s Queens Baton Relay Event

From Cate Ross, Area Arts Convenor for the Stewartry

One of the big ambitions for the region’s Area Arts Convenors is to encourage more people to get involved with creative activities. The passing of the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) through Dumfries and Galloway provided an ideal opportunity for community engagement.

Alan Thomson, Belle Doyle, Sid Ambrose and I collaborated with a host of others to support a series of free opportunities for schools, clubs, individuals and organisations. The result was that on 19th June hundreds of people joined in all sorts of performances and other fun activities as the QBR passed through places such as Langholm, Gretna, Eastriggs, Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, Newton Stewart and Stranraer.

From the Convenors’ point of view it was great to play a part in such a big effort, by so many people, to collaborate on a region-wide event. There was a tremendous amount of work put in by D&G’s Active Schools and Community Sports Officers, school music specialists, Alison Burns Music and Community Learning and Development.

It’s estimated that 20,000 people watched or participated in the QBR event day in D&G. And by doing so they became part of something truly international. Over a period of 288 days the baton is travelling 190,000km across 70 nations and territories to end up at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The activities arranged in D&G were part of the Culture 2014 Touring Programme and covered a wide spectrum such as music, dance and literature. They included:

Music
All Primary Schools n D&G learnt the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games anthem To All Our Common Wealth. Music specialists in schools taught this celebratory song and bands had free access to all the music, lyrics and instructional videos online.
Community choirs also received training from one of the composers of the anthem, Alison Burns, from Castle Douglas. Alison conducted many performances throughout the day including ones by The Feral Choir, Cairn Chorus and Penrith Community Choir in the lineup. In Castle Douglas Alison led a choir of around 150 people aged 5+ in the uplifting anthem.

Dance
Dance specialists taught dedicated choreography in schools and community organisations leading to Commonwealth Ceilidh and Big Dance Pledge events in Gretna, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Newton Stewart – where D&G’s newest youth dance initiative ’Be Inspired’ shared their skills.

Literature
The Marathon Cycle Storytelling Challenge – acclaimed actor Tam Dean Burn shared Julia Donaldson stories and songs as part of the Books on a Bike project that aims to tell all of Donaldson’s stories over the duration of the QBR and Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Royal Honours in D&G

Big congratulations go out to Chrys Salt, artistic director at the Bakehouse, who last week received an MBE at the Queen's Birthday celebrations for services to the arts in Dumfries and Galloway! The Bakehouse, are behind the Globe Theatre's upcoming return to Dumfries next week, to get ahold of your tickets either directly from the Globe, or from the Midsteeple… 

“What better way to celebrate than with The Globe Theatre, Much Ado, Ballard’s burger van and huge audience!” 

Full honours list online here

The news where you are....

The news where you are is one of writer James Robertson's 365 stories.....it is genius:

James Robertson 'The news where you are..'

See him perform it here

The whole of his 365 project can be found here

Should I Vote?

The Royal Society of Edinburgh are organising a Public Discussion on the key issues informing the forthcoming referendum on Monday 23^rd June, at 7pm, at Dumfries Academy.   If you are interested in going along, please contact RSE, details are on the poster.  I would recommend you do this soon as this might be a popular event.

This is an event for all ages, but some young people might enjoy this event.

A River Changes Course - Globalisation and Cambodia @ RBCFT

A UK Green Film Festival presentation
at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre
A River Changes Course

Kalyanee Mam | Cambodia/US 2013 | 83 minutes

The south-east Asian country of Cambodia has largely disappeared from view in Britain since the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. In the intervening period it has become a vaguely communist free-market state with an expanding, low-wage economy, based on globalisation.

Winner of a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, A River Changes Course explores the impact of this globalization on both environment and people, by following three families’ attempts to survive in contemporary Cambodia, as forests are cleared, fish catches dwindle and economic development undermines traditional life. The film thus makes the concept of globalization real, tangible and human.

Saturday 7 June, 7.30pm

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre

Mill Road, Dumfries DG2 7BE

Tickets: £6.90 [concessions £5.15]

Box office: 01387 264808

This screening is being supported by Friends of the Earth Dumfries.

Firelight Magic in Dumfries

And, if you need a little last minute plan to get out of the house tonight - down tools and get to Brigend Theatre in Dumfries for Murray the Magician…

A death-defying escape, never performed before in Scotland, will have Dumfries audiences gasping on Wednesday night.

Magical entertainment, Hooverville-style, comes to the Brigend Theatre when Murray the Magician will attempt to free himself from a flooded, padlocked milk churn after five minutes of complete submersion.

'There have been similar escapes performed like this one,' said Murray, 'but this is the first time this particular one has been done in Scotland.

'To make it even more difficult for myself, I'm going to get the audience to inspect the can and ask them to bring along their own padlocks.

'I've been practising the escape and I'm feeling confident.'

The entertainment is part of Murray the Magician's jaw-dropping Firelight Show which he describes as 'good old-fashioned magic.'

'The show echoes the tent shows during America's 1930s' Dust Bowl Depression era where the entertainment was often dark; some of it spiritualist in nature; some conjuring; and some just plain weird.

Other key features of the show are:

• A telepathy demo with gifted medium Fearchara Fia, which Murray calls 'amazing' when it's flowing;
• Russian roulette where a blindfolded Murray attempts to dodge five bullets from a loaded gun;
• A blindfolded act with a cut-throat razor;
• A Dust Bowl years seance demonstration where 'anything can happen,' said Murray. 'We've had people leap into the air before,' he added;
• Side show features performed by La Vey who eats glass bottles.

'This is the chance to see proper magic and mystery acts of that 30s' era,' added Murray, 'hard-hitting entertainment to reflect those difficult times.'

Murray the Magician’s Firelight Show begins at 7.30pm.

For further information on Murray visit: http://murraythemagician.weebly.com or visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MurrayTheMagician

The show is part of this year's Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival Fringe events.

Dunragit Finds Revealed

Previous Archaeological investigations at Dunragit had led to the are being styled as the 'most important Stone-Age site in Scotland'.....so it was to be expected that the new section of the the A75 to bypass the notorious Dunragit Low Bridge - would unearth some history. No one expected the sheer volume of material that would be found though - including Mesolithic dwellings more than 9000 years old.

excavations at Dunragit

The finds included:

• More than 13,500 Mesolithic flints
• An early Neolithic settlement
• A Bronze Age cemetery complex
• Early Bronze Age stone-lined cist burials with grave goods including ceramic food vessels, a flint knife, and two rare jet bead necklaces
• Bronze Age cremation urns and pottery sherds
• Six Iron Age roundhouses and Iron Age pottery

More on this story at the BBC website

Spring Fling's Chelsea expedition extended!

For anyone venturing down to the capital in the deep south, Spring Fling's spectacularly successful show has been extended a further week - good work all round team Spring Fling!

Spring Fling’s first ever London exhibition has been such a success that it has been extended for a further week.

James Harvey, owner of the James Harvey British Art gallery in Chelsea, has been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the exhibition of work by 22 visual artists and sculptors from across Dumfries and Galloway.

He said: “It’s been quite phenomenal. Our visitors have been very impressed by the quality of the work, so we decided to extend the exhibition for a further week to let more people come and enjoy it.

“We have sold works from across the full range – sculpture, original prints, watercolours and oils. London buyers are tending to stick to artists they know at the moment, so to bring in a whole new range of unfamiliar artists and have such success is particularly great.”

Among those with work on show at the exhibition are Harry Potter book cover illustrator Clare Melinsky and high profile award winner Patricia Cain.

The exhibition, which now runs until Friday 2 May, was also used to promote local produce and also to highlight Dumfries and Galloway as a place to visit, particularly during the main Spring Fling visual art and craft open studios event from 24-26 May.

D&G|OUT: James Harvey British Art was organised by the Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of Arts, supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council and produced by Spring Fling.

Rosnes Benches Official Launch

Leading environmental artists have created 30 sculptural sensory benches in the wilds of Dumfries and Galloway where people can lie back, relax and reconnect with the natural world.

The Rosnes Benches, a groundbreaking ecological art project by Dundee-based Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion, allow people to tune into the natural world. They aim to combat Nature Deficit Disorder – the idea that modern lifestyles harm health and wellbeing because people lose their connection to nature.

Rosnes Benches - Dromore.  Picture by Colin Hattersley

They are clustered in small groups in 12 locations around Dumfries and Galloway’s Dark Skies Park and UNESCO Biosphere. The sites have been specially chosen to trigger people’s sense – perhaps through the sound of nearby water, views of huge day and nighttime skyscapes, or the noise of the wind through the trees and grasses.

On a clear night, people lying on the sensory benches will be able to see up to 7,000 stars and planets and the great arc of the Milky Way.

The official launch of the Rosnes Benches is at noon on Friday, 2 May, at Glentrool Visitor Centre, when the artists will lead a walk into the woodlands and give visitors the chance to enjoy the sensory benches for themselves.

Matthew said: “We are very much looking forward to Friday’s launch. There’s a real problem that people are becoming detached from the natural world and we are trying to find ways to help them reconnect with the environment.

“The Rosnes Benches have a profound effect on people when they try them. That’s because when you lie down, you slow down and engage your senses in a different way. You become aware of things like the breeze, the sky, the scents from plants and the sounds around you.”  

Rosnes Benches - Otter Pool. Picture Colin Tennant

Louise and Matthew worked with a team of artists to deliver the project including Kenny Hunter and Kenny Mackay from Glasgow and locally-based land artist Jim Buchanan. 

The project has been produced by Wide Open, a public and environmental art organisation for south west Scotland. It is supported by Creative Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Galloway Leader Programme and Forestry Commission Scotland.

Jan Hogarth, Director of Wide Open, said: “It’s a rare pleasure to lie back and in beautiful countryside and tune into nature’s sights and sounds. The Rosnes Benches let you do that.

“So many people are disconnected from nature. In cities they are surrounded by concrete and have tarmac underfoot and the stars are blotted out by streetlights.

“The benches and the Dark Skies Park offer an escape into nature and a way to enhance people’s health and wellbeing. They put people back in wild spaces, surrounded by natural beauty and allow them to breathe fresh, clean air and to enjoy the magnificence of our landscape.

“We hope people will make a special pilgrimage to Galloway to have the Rosnes bench experience.”

The benches recall the mysterious ancient cup and ring marked stones, and recumbent stones, which stand in many beautiful parts of the Scottish landscape. They are also comfortable, weatherproof and durable.

● Take a journey of discovery and find out more about the Rosnes Benches project on www.rosnesbench.com

Generation - Preview

The Generation Show that opens this summer in Gracefield, is a partnership exhibition alongside the Maclaurin Galleries in Ayr and the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock. The preview for the Dick Institute is THIS FRIDAY (i.e. Today!), between 5.30 and 7pm before it opens to the public on the 3rd May (tomorrow) - if you just can't wait get yourself along:

"In partnership with Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries and the Maclaurin Galleries in Ayr, we have brought together selected works of Christine Borland, Graham Fagen and artist partnership Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion. 

Each of the artists have strong links to South West Scotland, and it is this indigenous link and the themes of the work which resonate with the fabric of our culture and heritage. This project is a www.futuremuseum.co.uk partnership project. 

Still from The Earth Turned To Bring Us Closer, Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion 

This exhibition forms part of Generation, a national programme taking place in the summer of 2014 that will celebrate the wealth of contemporary art that has developed in Scotland over the last 25 years. Over 60 venues across the country are participating in this unique programme. Please find further details at: www.generationartscotland.org 

Willow Pattern Study, Inkjet Print Edition, 2001, Christine Borland

Artists 'have structurally different brains'

Artists have structurally different brains compared with non-artists, a study has found.

Participants' brain scans revealed that artists had increased neural matter in areas relating to fine motor movements and visual imagery.
The research suggests that an artist's talent could be innate. But training and environmental upbringing also play crucial roles in their ability, the authors report. 

As in many areas of science, the exact interplay of nature and nurture remains unclear......so that'll be 'we've nae idea, but it is a pretty picture, no'

read the full story here

Rural Murals - a happening thing

Alice Francis at Torr Barn Auchencairn

Huge murals have appeared on houses, barns and even a disused electricity sub-station across Dumfries and Galloway.

The works of art, up to 40 metres long, are part of the Spring Fling Rural Mural (SFRM) project being run by Spring Fling – producers of Scotland’s premier visual art and craft open studios event.

Rural Mural has seen leading street artists from the UK and Europe teamed up with artists from Dumfries and Galloway to create colourful paintings designed to intrigue and entertain. 

Recoat's Ali Wylie in D+G

The project is being led by artists, Amy Whiten and Ali Wyllie, managers of Recoat, a Glasgow-based arts organisation which specialises in mural projects. Amy said: “The murals are big, colourful and fun – they really stand out in the landscape and we hope that people will enjoy seeing them.

 “We’ve got an amazing combination of nationally and internationally-known street artists working with some incredibly talented people from the region to create the murals – and the results are fantastic.”

Spring Fling got responses from all across south west Scotland when it invited people to offer buildings – or other items – to be painted. Stage one of the project took place last week and saw the transformation of a pottery, a house, an old sub-station and three agricultural buildings.

Among them is a large corrugated iron hay shed at East Knockbrex Farm near Newton Stewart, which is familiar to drivers along the A75 and that is due to be pulled down in November.

 

Iain Service and his Barn

Owner Iain Service said: “I have a real sentimental attachment to this barn, it’s been here all my life and I remember stacking the hay in there on hot summer days when I was a boy. But it had reached the end of its life and I was about to knock it down when I heard of Rural Mural.

“I thought this would be a great way to give it a big send off, a real final party. I’ve encouraged the artists to be as bold and bright as they want so the old hayshed can really say something – make a big statement – before it finally goes. It deserves a final fling! It’s also a bit of a local landmark, so I hope it will give drivers a bit of fun when they see it from the road.”

A team of artists, led by Will Barras from London and local artist Amy Winstanley, worked on the barn and painted it using everything from spray cans to household mops. The scenes they created include ones showing how farming has changed – one shows a horse and rider another is of a farmer.

The gable end of the Dalton Pottery Art Café, Meikle Dyke, Dalton now sports a huge painting of children at play in the countryside. It is the work of well-known street artist FiST and Katharine Wheeler from D&G.

Café owner Jenny Finch said: “I’m absolutely delighted with it. Over the years we have been turning our pottery into a visitor attraction and have all sorts of artistic creations in the gardens. This really adds something new and special for visitors – when they arrive they will really say ‘wow’.”

The former electricity sub-station on the sea front at Stranraer has been specially clad and painted with an abstract ocean scene by Amy, Ali and D&G artist Hope London. After the Spring Fling main weekend on 24-26 May the cladding will be removed and used to help brighten up an alleyway in the town. 

Denise Zygadlo and Fraser Gray

The same team has also been as work on a barn in Carrutherstown, while Fraser Gray and Denise Zygadlo have painted the gable end of a cottage near Thornhill and German artist 1010 has collaborated with D&G’s Alice Francis at Torr Farm in Auchencairn.

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “Spring Fling is all about bringing art to the widest possible audience, and there couldn’t be a better way of doing it than Rural Mural. It’s colourful, fun and something that everyone can enjoy. We hope the murals will be a real attraction for visitors to the region, especially during the Spring Fling open studios weekend.

“We’ve been delighted with the enthusiasm that people have had for the project, and it’s been brilliant to have such highly respected street artists working in the area and teaming up with artists from Dumfries and Galloway to swap skills and ideas.”

And there is more to come as Rural Mural continues. Next will be a grain silo, a set of aircraft fuel tanks and a horse blanket. There will also be a few other surprises appearing round the region in the weeks ahead.

The theme of the murals is “home”, as part of the 2014 Year of Homecoming, and community workshops were run to get ideas from local people about what this meant to them.

Pink Footed Goose at Auchencairn

 Check out the Rural Mural project on ITV Border news - here

Feeling the Noise

Fine Commonty Friend Peter Stark sent us this crazy wee infographic thing...that lets you see a survey of different aspects of musicality on a regional basis and refer this against average incomes. It is based on a not inconsiderable survey of 90,000 people.

We are not clever enough to add the fully interactive version of the gizmo to the Commonty blog...but you can play to your hearts content - here

Calling all intrepid Sailors

A wee reminder to those interested in participating in this year's Nithraid, the first meeting will be taking place this Friday at the Steamboat in Carsethorn.

Nithraid Question No 1: The Riddle of the Wavelets. What is this?

Reminder:

Initial meeting for the Nithraid 2014.

Steamboat Inn, Carsethorn. April 25^th 7.30

This meeting is to give those who took part last year the chance to talk about the race, allow us confirm the date that doesn’t clash with other events, make a comprehensive mailing list, and air general ideas about the future of the event. And, of course, to allow those who would like to be more closely involved to become so.

Please let me know you are coming or, if you cannot make it, please let me know that you are interested and would like to be kept informed.

Send your answers to the Riddle of the Wavelets and discover the truth

at

The Steamboat

on the 25^th.